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Anything But Alone
Anything But Alone is a Star Trek: The Original Series manga story from the 2006 anthology "Shinsei Shinsei," published by TokyoPop, written by Joshua Ortega and drawn by Gregory Giovanni Johnson. Beaming down to Ximega II, the Enterprise's landing party were welcomed, yet something was amiss. The colonists seemed unable to remember details of their arrival on the planet, serious wounds healed in seconds, and there were no children anywhere. Summary ;Captain's Log, Stardate 4010.6. :After delivering much-needed medical supplies to Makus III, the ''Enterprise has set a new course — Sector 061. A largely unexplored region of space near the Alexisian System.'' Lt. Uhura picked up a message on a frequency once used by Ximegans before their world was destroyed more than 100 years ago. Following the message, Kirk, Spock and McCoy beamed down. Peculiarities abounded. Charteil greeted them almost immediately, yet was unaware of the transmission that brought them there, so how did she anticipate their arrival? No remnants of spacecraft were detected, so how did the colony arrive on the planet? Endarch cut himself badly, yet his wound healed in seconds. No children were visible, so how did the colony survive the past 100 years? Staying the night, the landing party resolved to answer those questions. In the morning, Lin confessed to having sent the signal. Spock detected nanotechnology and realized the truth: that the colony was made up entirely of nano-machines. “Were one to develop a technology capable of storing consciousness as electronic data, it is theoretically possible to combine it with nano-scale engines to generate an entire colony of human beings.” Dr. Prekraft and his wife Lin had saved the colonists’ memories and consciousness into a probe, then replicated them on Ximega II. But then solar flares devastated the simulations, and electromagnetic radiation erased all data on the probe. After a virus killed Lin, Prekraft lost all hope. Using the nano-machines, he recreated the colony from memory, maintaining everyone’s personalities, and had forgotten everyone was an illusion until the Enterprise visited. He struck back at the landing party, creating monsters to attack them. Then the memory of Lin interceded, comforting him, telling him the people from the Enterprise were real and could help him through his pain. The colony dissolved. Later, while recuperating in sickbay, Prekraft thanked the captain for his help. References Characters :Charteil • Endarch • James T. Kirk • Lin • Leonard McCoy • Prekraft • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Nnoff • John von Neumann • Montgomery Scott Starships and vehicles : ( ) Locations :Great Library • Manual labor pavilion • Sector 061 • Ximega II Alexisian • Earth • Makus III • • Ximega I Races and cultures :Human • Vulcan • Ximegan States and organizations :Federation Starfleet • United Federation of Planets Other references :20th century • 22nd century • breakfast • bridge • colony • communicator • doctor • headache • holographic technology • humanoid • molecular assembly technology • nanotechnology • physician • physiology • planet • probe • science officer • scientist • solar storm • supernova • technology • virus Information * This story, with a paragraph introduction in place of the first three pages, is also printed in Pocket Books' short story anthology, Constellations. Related Stories Images File:Anything-But-Alone-mystery.jpg|Part of the mystery File:Anything-But-Alone-Charteil.jpg|Charteil File:Anything-But-Alone-Endarch.jpg|Endarch File:Anything-But-Alone-Lin.jpg|Lin File:Anything-But-Alone-Prekraft.jpg|Prekraft Connections A Private Anecdote| voyages1= TOS| adbefore1= [[The Galileo Seven|The Galileo Seven]]| adafter1= Court Martial| }} Category:TOS comics